Walmart Minimum Wage

With the increase of minimum wage come consequences, as many in the working-class lose jobs and have to look elsewhere in order to support their families and/or everyday needs. Recently, the increase in minimum wage has inflicted a big blow to Wal-Mart and many of its employees. In an article from The Wall Street Journal, “Killing the Working Class at Wal-Mart”, published in 2016 on February 4th, Andy Puzder voices the struggle that Wal-Mart, like many other companies, is facing as sales are no longer profitable. Minimum wage has been an increasingly sensitive topic, and for some working-class Americans this increase can be an advantage, but for others it comes as a disadvantage, as is with approximately 10,000 Wal-Mart employees (Puzder). With the increase of the base wage at Wal-Mart to $9.00 an hour, the company has suffered from a decline in share earnings. Now that the wage is to be increased to $10.00 an hour, the company is expecting an even greater decrease in its share earnings (Puzder). For those locations where the increase in minimum wage exceeds that of $10.00, losses have been even

Plans for starting up some new locations, such as the two stores in Washington D.C., have been revoked. Many Americans fail to realize that the increase in the minimum wage is not the only factor that is causing the decrease in Wal-Mart’s profitability. As Wal-Mart is facing these cuts in the number of stores, it is also competing with other companies, like Amazon (Puzder). As online retailers are becoming more convenient for shoppers, saving customers the hassle of driving to and from the store, the amount of purchases made at stores, such as Wal-Mart, has also declined. Pressure from the increase in minimum wage (and outside competition) may prove to be more detrimental than beneficial to the employees of huge retailers, whose profits were already made on the